Switching

■ Whenever we have multiple devices, we have the

problem of how to connect them to make one-to-one
communication possible
■ One solution is to make a point-to-point connection

between each pair of devices (a mesh topology) or

between a central device and every other device (a
star topology). These methods, however, are
impractical and wasteful when applied to very large
networks.
■ Other topologies employing multipoint connections,

such as a bus, are ruled out because the distances

between devices and the total number of devices
increase beyond the capacities of the media and
equipment.
■ A better solution is switching
 Figure 8.1 Switched network

• A switched network consists of a series of interlinked nodes, called

switches.
• Switches are devices capable of creating temporary connections
between two or more devices linked to the switch.
• In a switched network, some of these nodes are connected to the
end systems (computers or telephones, for example). Others are
used only for routing. Figure 8.1 shows a switched network.

The end systems (communicating devices) are labeled A, B, C,

D, and so on, and the switches are labeled I, II, III, IV, and V.
Each switch is connected to multiple links.
 Figure 8.2 Taxonomy of switched networks

Three methods of switching: circuit switching, packet switching, and

message switching.

The first two are commonly used today. The third has been phased out in
general communications but still has networking applications.
 8-1 CIRCUIT-SWITCHED NETWORKS

• A circuit-switched network consists of a set of switches connected by

physical links.
• A connection between two stations is a dedicated path made of one
or more links.
• However, each connection uses only one dedicated channel on each
link.
• Each link is normally divided into n channels by using FDM or
TDM.
Topics discussed in this section:
Three Phases
Efficiency
Delay
Circuit-Switched Technology in Telephone Networks
Figure 8.3 A trivial circuit-switched network
Note

A circuit-switched network is made of a

set of switches connected by physical
links, in which each link is
divided into n channels.
Note

In circuit switching, the resources need

to be reserved during the setup phase;
the resources remain dedicated for the
entire duration of data transfer until the
teardown phase.
Three Phases for communication establishment
Setup Phase
Before the two parties (or multiple parties in a conference call)
can communicate, a dedicated circuit (combination of channels
in links) needs to be established. The end systems are normally
connected through dedicated lines to the switches, so
connection setup means creating dedicated channels between
the switches.

Data Transfer Phase

After the establishment of the dedicated circuit (channels), the
two parties can transfer data.

Teardown Phase
When one of the parties needs to disconnect, a signal is sent to
each switch to release the resources
 Example 8.1

As a trivial example, let us use a circuit-switched network

to connect eight telephones in a small area.
Communication is through 4-kHz voice channels. We
assume that each link uses FDM to connect a maximum
of two voice channels. The bandwidth of each link is then
8 kHz. Figure 8.4 shows the situation. Telephone 1 is
connected to telephone 7; 2 to 5; 3 to 8; and 4 to 6. Of
course the situation may change when new connections
are made. The switch controls the connections.
Figure 8.4 Circuit-switched network used in Example 8.1
Figure 8.6 Delay in a circuit-switched network
Efficiency
circuit-switched networks are not as efficient as the other two types of
networks because resources are allocated during the entire duration of
the connection. These resources are unavailable to other connections

Delay
Although a circuit-switched network normally has low efficiency, the
delay in this type of network is minimal. During data transfer the data
are not delayed at each switch; the resources are allocated for the
duration of the connection.

There is no waiting time at each switch. The total delay is due to the
time needed to create the connection, transfer data, and disconnect
the circuit
Note

Switching at the physical layer in the

traditional telephone network uses
the circuit-switching approach.
 Important points about circuit switching:
•Circuit switching takes place at the physical layer.

•Before starting communication, the stations must make a reservation for the
resources to be used during the communication. These resources, such as
channels (bandwidth in FDM and time slots in TDM), switch buffers, switch
processing time, and switch input/output ports, must remain dedicated
during the entire duration of data transfer until the teardown phase.

•Data transferred between the two stations are not packetized (physical layer
transfer of the signal). The data are a continuous flow sent by the source
station and received by the destination station, although there may be
periods of silence.

•There is no addressing involved during data transfer. The switches route the
data based on their occupied band (FDM) or time slot (TDM). Of course,
there is end-to end addressing used during the setup phase
8-2 DATAGRAM NETWORKS

If the message is going to pass through a

packet-switched network, it needs to be divided into
packets of fixed or variable size.

The size of the packet is determined by the network

and the governing protocol.

Topics discussed in this section:

Routing Table
Efficiency
Delay
Datagram Networks in the Internet
Note

In a packet-switched network, there

is no resource reservation;
resources are allocated on demand.
This means that there is no reserved bandwidth on the links, and there is no
scheduled processing time for each packet. Resources are allocated on demand.
Figure 8.7 A datagram network with four switches (routers)

The switches in a datagram network are traditionally referred to as routers.

That is why we use a different symbol for the switch
In a datagram network, each packet is treated independently of all
others. Even if a packet is part of a multipacket transmission, the
network treats it as though it existed alone.

Packets in this approach are referred to as datagrams. Datagram

switching is normally done at the network layer.

The datagram networks are sometimes referred to as connectionless

networks.

The term connectionless here means that the switch (packet switch)
does not keep information about the connection state. There are no
setup or teardown phases. Each packet is treated the same by a switch
regardless of its source or destination.
Figure 8.8 Routing table in a datagram network
Routing table in a datagram network

In this type of network, each switch (or packet switch) has

a routing table which is based on the destination address.
The routing tables are dynamic and are updated
periodically. The destination addresses and the
corresponding forwarding output ports are recorded in the
tables.

This is different from the table of a circuit switched network

in which each entry is created when the setup phase is
completed and deleted when the teardown phase is over.
Note

A switch in a datagram network uses a

routing table that is based on the
destination address.
 Note

The destination address in the header of

a packet in a datagram network
remains the same during the entire
journey of the packet.
Destination Address
• Every packet in a datagram network carries a header that contains, among other
information, the destination address of the packet.

• When the switch receives the packet, this destination address is examined; the routing
table is consulted to find the corresponding port through which the packet should be
forwarded.

• This address, unlike the address in a virtual-circuit-switched network, remains the

same during the entire journey of the packet.
Figure 8.9 Delay in a datagram network
Efficiency
The efficiency of a datagram network is better than that of a
circuit-switched network;

Resources are allocated only when there are packets to be transferred.

If a source sends a packet and there is a delay of a few minutes before
another packet can be sent, the resources can be reallocated during
these minutes for other packets from other sources.

Delay
There may be greater delay in a datagram network than in a
virtual-circuit network.
Although there are no setup and teardown phases, each packet may
experience a wait at a switch before it is forwarded.

In addition, since not all packets in a message necessarily travel

through the same switches, the delay is not uniform for the packets of a
message.
Note

Switching in the Internet is done by

using the datagram approach
to packet switching at
the network layer.
8-3 VIRTUAL-CIRCUIT NETWORKS

A virtual-circuit network is a cross between a

circuit-switched network and a datagram network. It
has some characteristics of both.

Topics discussed in this section:

Addressing
Three Phases
Efficiency
Delay
Circuit-Switched Technology in WANs
1. As in a circuit-switched network, there are setup and teardown
phases in addition to the data transfer phase.

2. Resources can be allocated during the setup phase, as in a

circuit-switched network, or on demand, as in a datagram network.

3. As in a datagram network, data are packetized, and each packet carries

an address in the header. However, the address in the header has
local jurisdiction (it defines what should be the next switch and the
channel on which the packet is being carried), not end-to-end
jurisdiction.

4. As in a circuit-switched network, all packets follow the same path

established during the connection.

5. A virtual-circuit network is normally implemented in the data link layer,

while a circuit-switched network is implemented in the physical layer
and a datagram network in the network layer.
Figure 8.10 Virtual-circuit network
Addressing
In a virtual-circuit network, two types of addressing are involved:
global and local (virtual-circuit identifier).

Global Addressing
A source or a destination needs to have a global address-an address
that can be unique in the scope of the network or internationally if the
network is part of an international network. A global address in
virtual-circuit networks is used only to create a virtual-circuit
identifier.

Virtual-Circuit Identifier
The identifier that is actually used for data transfer is called the
virtual-circuit identifier (VCl). A VCl, unlike a global address, is a small
number that has only switch scope
 Figure 8.11 Virtual-circuit identifier

VCI used by a frame between two switches. When a frame arrives at

a switch, it has a VCI; when it leaves, it has a different VCl.

ieVCI in a data frame changes from one switch to another

Figure 8.12 Switch and tables in a virtual-circuit network
Figure 8.13 Source-to-destination data transfer in a virtual-circuit
network
Three Phases
As in a circuit-switched network, a source and destination need to go
through three phases in a virtual-circuit network: setup, data transfer, and
teardown.

In the setup phase, the source and destination use their global addresses
to help switches make table entries for the connection.

In the teardown phase, the source and destination inform the switches to
delete the corresponding entry.

Data transfer occurs between these two phases.

Figure 8.14 Setup request in a virtual-circuit network
Figure 8.15 Setup acknowledgment in a virtual-circuit network
Setup Phase
In the setup phase, a switch creates an entry for a virtual circuit by sending of
setup request frames from source to destination via intermediate switches and
updating the input port VCIs of the switches and then acknowledgement
frames in reverse direction to set the outpot ports’ VCI of the switches and the
source in the routing table.

Data Transfer Phase

To transfer a frame from a source to its destination, all switches need to have a
table entry for this virtual circuit. The table, in its simplest form, has four
columns. The data transfer phase is active until the source sends all its frames
to the destination.

The procedure at the switch is the same for each frame of a message. The
process creates a virtual circuit, not a real circuit, between the source and
destination.

Teardowin phase
In this phase, source A, after sending all frames to B, sends a special frame
called a teardown request. Destination B responds with a teardown
confirmation frame. All switches delete the corresponding entry from their
tables.
Note

In virtual-circuit switching, all packets

belonging to the same source and
destination travel the same path;
but the packets may arrive at the
destination with different delays
if resource allocation is on demand.
Efficiency
As we said before, resource reservation in a virtual-circuit network can
be made during the setup or can be on demand during the data transfer
phase. In the first case, the delay for each packet is the same; in the
second case, each packet may encounter different delays.

There is one big advantage in a virtual-circuit network even if resource

allocation is on demand. The source can check the availability of the
resources, without actually reserving it.

Delay in Virtual-Circuit Networks

In a virtual-circuit network, there is a one-time delay for setup and a
one-time delay for teardown.

If resources are allocated during the setup phase, there is no wait time
for individual packets.
Figure 8.16 Delay in a virtual-circuit network
 Key Virtual Circuits Datagram Networks
Virtual Circuit is a connection-oriented Datagram networks are a type of
service in which there is an connectionless service where no such
implementation of resources like buffers, resources are required for data
Definition CPU, bandwidth, etc., used by virtual transmission.
circuit for a data transfer session.

In Virtual circuits, as all the resources and In a Datagram network, the path is not
bandwidth get reserved before the fixed as data packets are free to decide
transmission, the path which is utilized or the path on any intermediate router on
Path followed by first data packet would get the go by dynamically changing routing
fixed and all other data packets will use tables on routers.
the same path and consume same
resources.
As there is same path followed by all the Different headers with information of
Header data packets, a common and same other data packet is being used in
header is being used by all the packets. Datagram network.
Virtual Circuit is less complex as Datagram network are more complex as
Complexity compared to that of Datagram network. compared to Virtual circuit.
Due to fixed path and assurance of fixed Datagram networks, due to their dynamic
resources, Virtual Circuits are more resource allocation and dynamic path, are
Reliability reliable for data transmission as more errorprone and less reliable than
compared to Datagram network. Virtual circuits.

Virtual circuits are costlier in installation Datagram networks are cheaper as

and maintenance. They are widely used compared to the Virtual Circuits. They are
Example and Cost by ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) mainly used by IP network, which is used
Network, which is used for the Telephone for Data services like Internet
calls.
Circuit-Switched Technology in WANs use
virtual-circuit networks in Frame Relay and ATM
networks.

The data link layer of these technologies is well

suited to the virtual-circuit technology.